Chapter 1- Living Things Flashcards
Cell
Basic unit of structure & function made in living things
Organism
A living thing
Unicellular
Made of a single cell
Multicellular
Consists of many cells
Development
The process of change that occurs during an organisms life to produce a more complex organism
Stimulus
Amy change or signal in the environment that can make an organism react in some way
Response
an action or change I’m behavior that occurs as a result of a stimulus
Metabolism
Combination of chemical reactions through which an organism builds up or breaks down
Spontaneous generation
The mistaken idea that living things arise from nonliving sources
Controlled experiment
An experiment in which only one variable is manipulated at a time
Asexual reproduction
A reproductive process that involves only one parent and produces offspring that are genetically identical to the parent.
Autotroph
An organism that is able to capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food.
Heterotroph
An organism that cannot make its own food and gets food by consuming other living things.
Sexual reproduction
A reproductive process that involves two parents that combine their genetic material to produce a new organism which differs from both parents.
Homeostasis
The condition in which an organism’s internal environment is kept stable in spite of changes in the external environment.
Classification
The process of grouping things based on their similarities.
Taxonomy
The scientific study of how living things are classified.
Binomial nomenclature
The classification system in which each organism is given a unique, two-part scientific name indicating its genus and species.
Genus
A classification grouping that consists of a number of similar, closely related species.
Species
A group of similar organisms that can mate with each other and produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce.
Evolution
Change over time; the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms.
Branching tree
A diagram that shows probable evolutionary relationships among organisms and the order in which specific characteristics may have evolved.
convergent evolution
The process by which unrelated organisms evolve similar characteristics.
Nucleus
In cells, a large oval organelle that contains the cell’s genetic material in the form of DNA and controls many of the cell’s activities.
